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James Frawley of Melbourne is tackled by Jonathan Brown of Brisbane during the AFL Round 05 match between the Melbourne Demons and the Brisbane Lions at the MCG, Melbourne. Slattery Images.
Melbourne will take far more from Saturday night’s win over the Brisbane Lions than just the four points. This young Demons team can now have the confidence in their own ability to defeat any side in the AFL.
It feels like the turnaround has happened almost overnight, but the Demons looked slick, skillful and seriously quick. They hit targets, applied enormous defensive pressure and stuck to a game plan that is fast, exciting and direct through the corridor.
I found myself asking, is this really Melbourne playing?
For the most part, they were exhilarating to watch, running in numbers, playing with flare and attacking every contest as if it was going to be their last.
For the first time in four years, the Demons are backing themselves to win the fifty/50 contests, have faith in their kicking ability and are well drilled enough to maintain their level of intensity throughout an entire game.
In years gone by, teams would overrun them, their concentration would lapse or costly skill errors would ultimately turn a game on its head.
Now those demons are in the past and Melbourne appears to be finally going places.
The old cliché “it was a good team performance” rings completely true in Melbourne’s 50 point belting of the undefeated Lions.
The back six held the formidable Lions forwards to just seven goals for the match, granted, Jonathan Brown looked to be carrying a groin injury, but you cant take anything away from James Frawley, Matthew Warnock and Colin Garland for restricting Brown and Fevola the way they did.
Throw in future captain Jack Grimes, current captain James McDonald and the hardness of former Lion Joel MacDonald and all of a sudden this a defensive structure to be reckoned with.
The midfield has been instrumental, the mix of experience, pace, youth and toughness proving lethal, and now they have the confidence to match the game plan, maybe Melbourne aren’t as far away as we thought from challenging the best teams in the competition?
The senior players are all standing up, Brent Moloney, Nathan Jones, Aaron Davey, Colin Sylvia and Brad Green all leading by example, while youngsters Jack Trengove and Tom Scully have already made an impact.
Mark Jamar also super impressive again, making his presence felt with his tap outs and work around the ground, including 17 disposals and 24 hitouts.
Is Jamar the most improved player in the AFL this year?
My biggest question mark on the new look Melbourne team is still up forward though, while they had 12 individual goal scorers, the need for a big, strong body is still an issue.
Ricky Pettard, Colin Sylvia, Matthew Bate and Brad Green are all more than serviceable inside the 50 metre arc, but when it comes to pressure games or finals football, they need a key forward to crash the packs and bring the ball to ground.
Jack Watts is still very much a work in progress, but assuming he can bulk up and continue to develop, that might not be a problem in a year or two.
The aberration of round one has been quickly forgotten and with games in the coming weeks against North Melbourne and West Coast at home, Melbourne could be sitting inside the top four after 7 rounds, I bet no one would have predicted that!
But how do you stop a young side getting too far ahead of themselves?
Brad Green said the first message from coach Dean Bailey after the game was simple “your only as good as your last performance.” Bailey all too aware of the need to keep his young charges feet firmly planted on the ground.
Of course the challenge now will be maintaining the momentum whilst mentally containing the hype and excitement.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
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